Well here we are at last.
Today is the very last day of my 2nd Co-op term. 16 weeks with change.
Now that we’ve reached the end of the road I find myself at a loss for things to say about it. In the grand scheme of things 4 months really isn’t that long, and I know that, but it still feels like I have been here for so much longer. In my first post I described myself as being “the new nervous-looking 20-something” and now I feel completely at home in this hotel. I can very easily get from one end to the other in a matter of minutes without getting turned around. I know the best times to go to the Bean (the staff canteen) when they’re guaranteed to have coffee or fries or Froot Loops. I know how to sweet talk Maintenance and the valet boys into helping me move stuff. I know the names of most of the people who work in the shops around me and they have become my friends. I’ll miss them when I leave. And I’ll miss my coworkers.
In the 4 months that I have been here, just one person has stayed put in the Banff location other than myself. We have seen 3 other people come and go, constantly leaving us with a standing army of 3. D left for greener pastures about a month ago, to be replaced by the lovely Em, who quickly became my new partner in crime. And just like that our sitcom cast changed from 3 wildly different characters to 2 mischievous (yet good-natured, of course) young women tolerated – and sometimes encouraged – by an older, laid back uncle type character. Needless to say, we have way too much fun for people working in a classy art gallery.
When I started here I was completely convinced I was never going to be able to learn the names of all the artists Mountain Galleries represents. And I probably haven’t. But I can look around the gallery from my perch behind the counter and tell you the difference between a Wilder and a Prouse. I can tell you what medium Keith Thomson prefers to work in and I even know the finer points of Allan Waidman’s carving process. I could tell you who is a total drama queen and who likes to call just to say hi. What I love about all of this is that these people are real to me. They aren’t just names in a book I’ve learned by reading about them, I’ve met them; talked with them. When I worked at UVic’s art gallery last semester most of the artists I studied were dead, and those who were still alive never came around the gallery. There was that classic disconnect historians have.
We cannot talk to that person because they haven’t spoken for 100 years.
I am presently having a hard time thinking of how this job has helped me develop as an academic within my history degree. I don’t think it has…
It has given me a far greater respect for Canadian artists, though. I have picked up a few tricks in regards to the fundamentals of how art is made, which I know is going to make me be one of those snobby people in art galleries explaining why the point of focus is over there and how the artist achieved such luminosity. I hate that future Kate already. I’ll just have to avoid galleries until it wears away. But it has also helped me in understanding some of my favourite historical painters. When you stand beside an artist as they explain how they paint the clouds just so, or the amount of time it took to get the layering just right on the water, it is somehow easier to stand in front of a J.E.H MacDonald and understand it.
I was about to say, “At the end of the day…” but seeing as this really is the end of the day I’ll just say it:
I’m happy to be leaving.
I’m sad to be leaving my people, and the day-to-day work was not hard, but there have been circumstances surrounding my work life that I will very much not be missing. I am grateful to have had this opportunity, and I feel that I have had an extremely enriching summer, but I’m looking forward to going back to my classrooms and my people long dead. It’s been interesting keeping a blog, and I’ve found the whole experience weirdly therapeutic and satisfying, even though my mom likes to poke fun at me for it.
So with that I will leave you all with a snippet from my favourite Allan Doyle song, Where I Belong. Allow him to play you out…
I’ll cast my leaving shadow, and I’ll be Canadian. But distance can’t decide what matters to the Hard Rock’s loving son. And when I’m thinking of St John’s I’ll bring ‘er closer with this song. I don’t know where I’m going, But I know where I belong.